Muslims are a people of community.

We are always connected.

We’re connected on a global scale every year when we gather for Hajj, we are unified in the month of Ramadan when we all say bismillah at once and take our first bite after a long day of fasting, we gather every Friday no matter what’s on our calendar and we stand shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot five times a day.

We value family relations and community above all else.

Which is why it’s as though our lives have been entirely upended because of Covid-19. Our mosques have been closed, Hajj is an impossibility, the act of breaking fast together now feels like a luxury and even shaking the hand of a Muslim is risky. Almost overnight, it feels like Covid-19 has taken a hammer and shattered much of our community spirit.

Now we face physical isolation, which can have the much worse repercussion of spiritual and emotional isolation. Everyday we turn on our TV’s and hear more and more bad news. During this time, how to stay spiritually afloat? And better, spiritually thrive?

I’m reminded of a time in our Prophet Muhammed (saw)’s life when he too felt isolated. After receiving revelation, Allah didn’t communicate with him for over six months. In this time the Prophet (saw) felt alone, he felt hopeless, he doubted himself, and most of all, he feared Allah had left him.

This was when Allah revealed Surah Duha.

The first two ayat highlight the nature of this dunya. Our luck fluctuates like night and day. Allah gently reminds us that we will have periods of good and periods of bad because that’s what we were promised; a test. And every test has some difficult questions, but soon we’ll pass it and move on with the next one.

During a time that feels like a never ending night, when we look forward to the sun rising yet are left waiting and waiting, Allah comforts us with the knowledge that Allah does not forsake us.

Allah does not abandon a believer, and certainly not his Prophet (saw). As Muslims, we don’t look to the storm outside our window to check if our life is going well. Rather, we look inside ourselves at the strength of our iman because our unified goal is the hereafter which is far “better” than this world.

Allah uses a word that means temporary farewell. This dunya is temporary, a fact that eases the mind and soothes the heart. No matter what our situation, Allah promises us this is only passing and we have something greater waiting, in both our future and our akhira.

So continue to be grateful to Allah for all the blessings in our lives; our homes and our families and our health is a luxury that comes from Allah alone.

And once we’ve formed this deep well of gratitude in our hearts, we’re told to do good deeds. Every small act of goodness gives us power over our own destiny, and it may help or comfort another along the way. We may be physically cut off from our Muslim community but this surah is a reminder that a believer is never alone. If there is one, then the second is Allah, and if there is two, then the third is Allah.

The cacophony of daily life has been muted and we live in our own quiet bubbles. Though the absence of people can feel lonely, in this period of night, of darkness, we are given the rare chance to focus all our energies on our spiritually.

Manal Faris